This is notification that a patent was issued last week that includes
(among other things) a way to scan a web page via audio.
Basically, the web page is parsed into "elements" which may be HTML
elements such as titles, etc. or heuristically selected parts of text, e.g.
the first sentence of each paragraph. Each element assigned a value, which
might be thought of as "importance" or "salience". The user sets a
threshold value.
Then, when the user scans a page, everything above that threshold is read,
and everything below the threshold is replaced with a babbling sound
suggestive of a tape recorder played at high speed, with additional sounds
giving an idea of what is being skipped (e.g. "bings" for links, snippets
of skipped material). For example, on one setting the user might hear the
first and second level headings, plus the first two sentences of each
paragraph, interspersed with babble, and punctuated by occasional
"bings" representing the skipped text and links. The user can change the
threshold at any point to change the level of detail heard, or simply read
everything from that point.
This is just a partial, informal description. The full text and images are
online
Kasday, LR, Aug. 22, 2000, Patent 6,108,629, Method and apparatus for
voice interaction over a network using an information flow controller
You can full text and images at
the US patent office site http://patents.uspto.gov/access/search-bool.html
Or IBM's patent server http://www.patents.ibm.com/
search on year 2000, inventor kasday
Notes:
- This system would provide one way to address the Web Accessibility
Initiatiative (WAI) User Agent Guideline 7, Provide Navigation Mechanisms
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20000818/#gl-navigation . It would work
best on pages being properly marked up in accordance with the WAI content
guidelines http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ , The
heuristics could be used in accessibility "filter" tools being considered
by the WAI evaluation and repair tools group http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/
- I happen to be the inventor, but have no financial interest in this
patent as the rights were assigned to the comany where I was employed at
that time, AT&T. (So it could have been me or AT&T to post this
email... I chatted with Lorrie Cranor, AT&T's W3C rep, and we decided I'd
be the one).
- I'm posting this on the voice browser list and will point to it from the
patent issue and web accessibility lists. Please try to keep all
discussion on the voice browser list to avoid scattering the discussion.
Len
--
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Institute on Disabilities/UAP and Dept. of Electrical Engineering at Temple
University
(215) 204-2247 (voice) (800) 750-7428 (TTY)
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday mailto:kasday@acm.org
The WAVE web page accessibility evaluation assistant:
http://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/piat/wave/